Wickedly funny and delightfully sad—and perfectly set with Edward Gorey's elegantly off-kilter drawings—Rhoda Levine's 1963 tale is available again in this fine New York Review Children's Collection edition, which features a cloth spine and laminated cover illustrations. The place is remote: "Three houses beside the sea." The characters are few: "Laughing Edith of Ecstasy, / Edith so happy and gay.... Smiling Catherine of Compromise, / She smiles her life away. / Then there was Alice of Hazard, / A dangerous life leads she." The only question is: Why is Alice up in a tree? Suitable for readers as young as 5 years, the spare tale and wry imagery reveal subtleties even to the adult reader.

"Ms. Levine’s wry imagination and Mr. Gorey’s powerfully epicene drawings (figure that one out) constitute a whole new country for a child to visit or for a lucky grandfather to act as tour guide.... This is, of course, a must for the many Edward Gorey fans of all ages, and a chance to discover the fine poetry of Rhoda Levine. I read this one to my five year old grand-daughter because it is just long enough to be engaging and just short enough to be wiggle proof, and just wise enough to set a young imagination free as a bird.—Huffington Post